Botswana gazetted its Media Practitioners’ Association Bill on 21 June 2022. From the memorandum, this Bill seeks to achieve the following objectives:
- To establish a Media Practitioners’ Association in order to promote and protect the freedom and independence of the media.
- To ensure the maintenance of high professional standards by making provision for the establishment of the Complaints and Disciplinary Committee which will receive, investigate and deal with complaints involving the media.
- To provide for the registration of journalists and media enterprises and the professional bodies in the media fraternity
Of note is the fact that the Bill is repealing the existing Media Practitioners’ Act thus also repealing the existing Media Council and replacing it with the Media Practitioners Association.
This law also establishes several institutions or structures in the regulation of the media and these include the Media Practitioners Board, The Ethics and Conduct Committee, The Complaints and Disciplinary Committee and also The Appeals Committee.
